The present invention relates to a personalized postal stamp and a method of making the same, and more particularly to such a stamp and method wherein the front surface of the stamp is of unitary, one-piece and integral construction for acceptability to the Postal Service.
The desirability of a personalized postal stamp--that is, a stamp bearing on the front surface thereof both the indicia qualifying the stamp as a lawful stamp of a given postage denomination and an image of a person who was in a predetermined spatial relationship to a vending machine at the time the stamp was purchased--is well known and has resulted in several patents relating thereto. Notwithstanding the flurry of past inventive concepts that were deemed worthy of the issue of a U.S. patent thereon, to the best of Applicant's knowledge neither the U.S. Post Office nor the U.S. Postal Service (i.e., the U.S. Postal Authorities) has ever authorized such a personalized postal stamp for use in the postal system.
For the most part, the pertinent prior art inventive concepts involved providing on the front surface of the stamp a first region presenting an image of indicia qualifying the stamp as a lawful stamp of a given postage denomination, and a second blank region substantially disposed within the first region, and further involved providing photographs of an individual, suitably cropped to fit within the second region. The stamp contains on the back surface an adhesive layer for adhering the stamp to a letter or postal card. Either the photograph includes on the back surface an adhesive layer for adhering the photograph on the second region, or the user of the stamp is intended to apply an adhesive layer between the photograph and the second region so as to secure together the back surface of the photograph and the front surface of the second region. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,573, which describes both regions as having adhesive backs so that the decorated design or photograph may be adhered to the front face of the stamp and the stamp adhered to the letter or postal card.
It is the belief of the inventor that the primary reason the aforementioned prior art inventive concepts have not materialized is because the postal authorities would not accept a stamp having an adhesively affixed photograph thereon because it might interfere with or otherwise render unreliable the stamp cancellation process. A stamp is generally of a relatively small size, and the photograph would preferably be designed to occupy a major portion of the stamp so that the photographic image would be recognizable. Typically a stamp is cancelled by receiving a cancellation imprint over the stamp. The cancellation imprint may simply be a series of parallel wavy lines extending over at least some portion of the stamp and optionally at least some portion of the letter or postal card thereabout. To the extent that the cancellation imprint was substantially contained on the photograph, in the inventive concepts discussed above the photograph (and therefore substantially all of the cancellation imprint) could be removed from the used stamp and the stamp then reused. Alternatively, in the same situation a second photograph could be adhered to a used stamp (over the first photograph) to conceal the cancellation imprint, and the stamp then reused. Reuse of the stamp could be either without any photograph or with a replacement photograph. In both instances, at least a substantial portion of the cancellation imprint would be either removed or concealed, thus possibly enabling unlawful reuse of the stamp without detection.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a personalized postage stamp which may be more acceptable to the postal authorities than the prior art personalized postage stamp concepts.
Another object is to provide such a stamp which would not lend itself to unlawful reuse after receipt of a cancellation imprint.
A further object is to provide a method of making such a stamp.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine for making and selling such a stamp.